Graduate students may conduct research in modern facilities leading to the Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The areas of interest cover a wide variety of topics in analytical, biological, environmental, inorganic, organic, materials, physical, polymers, and theoretical chemistry and their related interdisciplinary areas.
The Department of Chemistry, established in 1859, is one of the leading and recognized institutions in the world. It takes pride in its teaching excellence, advanced research facilities, and its development of distinguished scientists in the past and for the future. Collaborative specializations include Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Studies. Students are guaranteed full, competitive, graduate student funding through a combination of research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and fellowship support. The department offers substantial top-ups for scholarship holders.
Students benefit from rich collaborations with nearby hospitals, industry, and government laboratories. They use state-of-the-art research labs and equipment and work at the interface of chemistry with biology, medicine, nanotechnology, and the environment.
Environmental chemistry is the study of chemical processes occurring in the environment which are impacted by humankind's activities. These impacts may be felt on a local scale, for example through the presence of contaminants arising from an industrial waste site, or on a global scale, for example through depletion of stratospheric ozone. We study the environment from a molecular perspective. The field of environmental chemistry is both very broad and highly interdisciplinary. Within the Department of Chemistry we have a core group of faculty whose research interests include atmospheric and aquatic chemistry, photochemistry, environmental toxicology, and the chemistry and transport of long-lived pollutants. We interact with other chemists in the Department, with numerous other researchers at the University who have related interests, and with nearby government agencies.
